Niwa Design Studio applies its knowledge of Japanese garden design principles to a Frank Lloyd Wright home near Still Water,Minnesota.  Niwa’s client, who owned an original Frank Lloyd Wright house plan, hired an architect to help interpret the plan and construct the home on the shores of a Minnesota lake.  The mountain scene entry garden […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Garden Types, Landscape, Rain Water Gardens, Stonework No Comments »

There are several different types of pathways used in Japanese and other garden types.  Here in one of our garden project in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, we used a tobishi style path as a short cut off of the main gravel pathway.  The tobishi stepping stones in this case are hand carved limestone pads which […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Garden Types, Japanese Garden Design, Landscape, Paths, Stonework No Comments »

This garden entrance is flanked with a pair of beautifully carved limetsone shigu.  Shigu is actually a Chinese word used to describe the type of sculpture shown in the picture.  Although the bases are actually unfinished the detailed carving of the dragons, foo dog heads and the phoenix or mythical fire birds.  These decorative stone […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Entry Monuments, Garden Art, Garden Types, Landscape, Paths, Sculpture, Stairs, Stonework No Comments »

Granite water features like this polished black millstone fountain bring beauty and personality to any garden.  People are attracted to water, just the soothing sound alone releases energy into the air.  There are a number of sculptural choices to set on the top of these types of water features.  There is a plastic prefabricated basin […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Fountains & Water Features, Garden Art, Garden Types, Japanese Garden Design, Landscape, Sculpture No Comments »

This a great piece in one of our garden projects. We found this hand carved granite statue in Asia, were we fell in love with it and found a home for it here in Minnesota. It was pretty much ignored, neglected and almost lost, although not ancient, it was probably carved about 40-50 years ago. […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Garden Art, Garden Types, Japanese Garden Design, Landscape, Sculpture No Comments »

The stonework in this project contains many Japanese garden principles.  One of which can be seen in the photo,  of a three stone ishigumi arrangement, which has a primary viewing point from the great room of the house through a sliding glass door. Ishigumi, also known as iwagumi, is the art of installing stones into a […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Garden Types, Japanese Garden Design, Landscape, Stonework No Comments »

Our local governments love it when we think “Green” and incorporating a Rain Water Garden into a project is doing just that. Traditional Rain Water Gardens can look great if planed and maintained properly. These gardens are typically planted with flowering plants that can withstand a lot of water. Since we specialize in Japanese Gardens […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Dry Garden, Garden Types, Japanese Garden Design, Landscape, Ponds & Koi, Rain Water Gardens No Comments »

Our client wanted us to incorporate a Japanese garden theme for the entry yard area of their Lake Minnetonka home. When we first studied the site we decided that the existing Arborvitae hedge separating the front yard from the auto court should stay and that it was also a good starting point for our new garden. So the garage, hedge and the asphalt auto court were the given physical structures of the project. From there we also decided to keep the foundations of existing brick planters flanking the entry steps and use them with an updated look.

Posted in Asian Gardens, Fences, Garden Art, Garden Types, Japanese Garden Design, Landscape, Stonework No Comments »

The millstone entry fountain commands attention from approaching guests visiting this beautifully landscaped home in Greenwood, Minnesota. As one of the properties on display in the 2000 parade, of homes we have received many compliments for this landscape design and construction work […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Dry Garden, Fountains & Water Features, Garden Art, Garden Types, Home Landscape Design, Landscape, Patios, Stairs, Stonework No Comments »

The Japanese stone garden, or Japanese sculpture garden, is a small garden enclosed within a brick sitting wall. When we were hired by the owner of Yorktown Offices in Edina to prepare a landscape maintenance report, we also made suggestions for small improvements which included remodeling the east and west entries. Both of these new entry walks and steps incorporated matching brick sitting wall planters […]

Posted in Asian Gardens, Garden Art, Garden Types, Landscape, Stairs, Stonework No Comments »